Op Ed Pieces!

I am going to use this page for things like Intellectual analysis of various facets of the game.

To begin, I will post an article that I created and posted in the forum today:

Analysis of Felicity Versus Goblin - Clash of the Titans!

Anyway, with all the debate about the two cards, I decided to create a
qualitative analysis of them for discussion and debate, which you can use the comments section below or the official forum for. Goatmeat's Spreadsheet of Awesome already covers the quantitative analysis quite aptly.

Now, before anyone complains that this entire analysis is tl;dr, I want to
state from the outset that for more than 90% of you, it probably will be. This post/thread is specifically targeted for the guys who are interested in analyzing, pondering, and discussing this at length. So if
this is too long or not interesting to you and you are not interested in reading it, I totally respect that and no offense taken.

One problem with analyzing the efficacy of Goblin versus Felicity is the
former "God-Tiered" cards from back in the Legendary days, particularly Spindia, CSW, and Steel. Assuming that when abilities are transposed from Epic/Legendary to Titan they are bumped up in power (+1 to NM
becomes +2, 40% Boss Bonus becomes 65%, 30% Added to Combo counter becomes 60%, and so on) then both Felicity and Goblin each have one half of the "Spindia on steroids" abilities:

Felicity gets +2 to NM Goblin gets 60% added to Combo Counter.

I think the mistake in many people's evaluation of these cards is to forget that these two abilities were split between the two cards. And while the Combo Counter bonus of Goblin may not completely make up for the NM bonus of Felicity, it isn't so black and white anymore, as it is comparing other cards with different configurations:

Such as MJ or Peter to Felicity.

So I honestly believe that when you factor in both of Goblin's abilities and both of Felicity's, it becomes a little less clear-cut.

A Few Things We All Agree On:

-In segments where you have a Web Hammer, Goblin is king, and can make up for at least some segments where there are a lot of near misses, which give Felicity the advantage.

-In runs that offer a lot of Web Hammers, Goblin is the clear winner. lol If only you knew beforehand, right?

-In runs where there are almost no Web Hammers and not nearly as many enemies, Felicity has the potential to win out, at least with the best players.

-For a small percentage of players who are among the best in the world at near misses, Felicity may still be the better card, because obviously this game offers a ton more near misses than it does KO's, even when factoring the flurry of boss and Mechtocunt hits. But consider how powerful Goblin is when even ONE near miss (at 40x combo, obviously) nets you 160 points. Sure, with Felicity you get 3x from NM, which adds up to 300 points per near miss, but that's only a little less than DOUBLE points added to your score when compared to Goblin.

So, in other words, one thing to consider is that Felicity doesn't get 3 times as many points from a near miss as Goblin gets, as many people
might mistakenly believe. Instead she gets 46.7% more added to your overall score.

This is particularly relevant when factoring in the flurry of boss punches, all the enemy KO's can get, and let's not forget the unsung combo hero's, which in this case are rings and shields. Think about it: Goblin scores 60% higher on both Rings and Shields, and this is easy to overlook because with both cards, these
combos add a mere 1x to your combo counter.

-It seems to me that Goblin's abilities, while not being as good as Felicity's on paper, do
tend to at least "chip away at her advantage," even with the best players.

Add into your run a whole bunch more than one or two web hammers in congested environments with lots of destructible objects and KO opportunities, and Goblin will equal or even surpass Felicity even with the very best players.

A Few Observations:

-I believe that the flurry of boss punches at 3x a-piece you get from
Goblin, combined with the +60 to combo counter more than makes up for Felicity's 65% Boss Bonus.

-I also believe that the new ramped
up speed is somewhat nerfing Felicity's power, at least for the vast
majority of people who are not able to get tons of near misses. And to a lesser extent, I believe even the best players are finding some near miss potential lost due to the very fast speed of the game. I know that Kaltotheel has also made the same statement about losing a lot of near misses with
the faster speed. This may, in fact, be artificially inflating Goblin's advantage over Felicity, at least until (and if!) Gameloft ever goes back to the original Unlimited speed. If they do, Felicity may win out over Goblin again as everyone will be able to get more near misses.

-In most running environments, I believe that 2x powerups tend to favor Felicity, if for no other reason than the potential to add huge numbers to your displayed Combo Counter with a lot of near misses. I think even the players who are not elite are able to focus and rack up high numbers of near misses with Felicity + 2x.

-When assessing Goblin + Web Hammer in environments rich in targets, it is vital to factor in not only the huge numbers of 3x for every enemy and destructible obstacle KO but also to add in the extra 60% added to your combo score. Of incidental value, but arguably worth noting, is all the near misses Goblin can also acquire with the Web Hammer with non destructible boss obstacles, walls, vehicles, vents, and sewer and rooftop pipes.

In conclusion: -For most people, I believe Goblin is the better card.

-Even for the very small minority of people truly good enough to take
advantage of Felicity's Near Misses, I think they will still end up having to do more runs, scrapping a lot of ISO-revives and consumables. Because the treacherous chances you have to take to truly capitalize on Felicity are going to tank a lot of runs even for the big guns and cause them to have to run a crapload of times to get that "one magical run" in. This I could obviously be wrong about, but I have read even Zupamir complain of not having the resources to do "30 consumable + Revives" runs a day, which indicates to me that this is usually not something
done in one or two runs, but has the potential for a lot of false starts and dumped runs!

-Again, with the ramped up speed, Goblin is not only a safer card, but even a lot of the high end, Champagne players, are complaining about losing a lot of New Miss opportunities.

-So even the better players I have noticed (and so has Goatmeat) are starting to run with Goblin. Why? Why is it that the players who can rack up Near Misses like Bill Cosby can rack up rape charges are running with Goblin in the lead? I bet its because while Felicity has the raw "potential" to be the better card under ideal circumstances, Goblin is a much safer card, still has plenty of combo points power to him (especially with his 2nd ability), and because they can at least approximate their own top scores (maybe falling a little short) with much fewer runs and much less expenditure of ISO for revives and consumables.

-This may change when and if the Unlimited speed is ever dialed back.

-So for the best players in the game who also have a surplus of ISO 8 and continues and aren't too concerned about spending tons of in-game resources and have the time and patience
to do huge numbers of runs, Felicity is more than likely still the better card. But for everyone other than the very best players in the game, or for the elite players who aren't looking to blow through masses quantities of ISO 8 and consumables, even all things being equal, I believe Goblin is just as good or better, certainly a safer bet for getting your own high score most of the time.